(1) YA This vividly, even horrifically, evoked novel tells of the genocide carried out against Armenians in Turkey during World War I. Like narrator Vahan Kenderian, who is twelve when the novel begins, a reader can't really prepare for this relentless tragedy before it unfolds. That the book is based on Bagdasarian's great-uncle's experiences gives it further gravity.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Tree leaves the St. Paul Orphanage to stay with a North Dakota farm couple, the Gundersons, but because they only want one boy, Tree's younger brother is left behind. The only light in Tree's life is Jake, Mr. Gunderson's brother, who finds ways to intervene on Tree's behalf. The characters are all memorable in this compelling first-person novel set in 1926.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2000

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old Laker, a Tennessee Williams fan, comes to know firsthand the kindness of strangers. Kicked out by his mother, Laker lives on the street until an elderly man takes him in and gives him work. The novel's theme is evident throughout: life is a mystery, "often bittersweet, but a constant marvel." Brooks is a master at conveying the complexity of relationships and how these are affected by forces beyond our comprehension.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kathryn Brown. Raney and her pokey horse Thunder have never won a ribbon at the Washita County Fair, but not from lack of trying. This year spunky Raney is sure she's "got it in the bag and sewed shut" with her Sooner Biscuits--until a tornado stirs things up. The entertaining pace and folksy dialogue make this a natural choice for reading aloud. Energetic illustrations extend the tongue-in-cheek humor and are as clever as the homespun tale.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2000

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Holly Meade. This picture-book biography of the country's first female steamboat captain portrays the river-loving Blanche first as a child and then as a young woman whose husband, a steamboat captain, teaches her the mysterious, unpredictable ways of the Mississippi. Exuberantly colored cut-paper art effectively realizes the three central characters of the story: Blanche, the river, and the romantic steamboat itself.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2000

(3) 4-6 Stuck in a tiny apartment, Emerald dreams of the day her actor parents will make it. Instead of writing an essay for the citywide My New York contest, the fourth grader decides to make a shoebox model of her apartment--and discovers she likes her New York and her neighbors. With convincing characters, Greenwald tells a different kind of new-kid-on-the-block story.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Yumi Heo. Miserly Yoshi has no intention of paying for the eels his neighbor Sabu broils each day to sell; and though Sabu lacks customers and always has leftovers, he refuses to share. Yoshi contents himself with the eels' delicious aroma, but when Sabu suggests that Yoshi owes him for the smell of his eels, Yoshi "pays" with the jingle of coins. Told with memorable humor, visually harmonious, this perfectly paced tale is a feast indeed.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Rocco Baviera. Mishoo, a prehistoric girl, became her clan's Dream Catcher after her mother's death. During a drought, she is drawn to the cave of the she-tiger and inspired to create paintings on its walls. The wordy prose is occasionally awkward ("I crawl through a tunnel for the lengths of more hunting men than my hands have fingers"), but the deep-toned illustrations re-creating cave paintings are evocative.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. In this rollicking picture book, the Queen of Trouble can't sleep a wink. After a series of silly suggestions by the king, young Isabella Abnormella Pinkerton McPugh comes up with a solution--the very first queen-sized waterbed. The quirky collages, a mix of oil paint and photographic images, are energetic and funny, and the rhyming text rolls easily off the tongue.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(3) K-3 Dolores enters her cat, Duncan, in a cat-food contest and assumes she has won the cruise to Hawaii; her pragmatic older sister, Faye, is skeptical ("Duncan won't even eat Meow Munchies"). Because Faye's consoling words when Dolores loses aren't patronizing and because the text and watercolor illustrations are so relentlessly funny (Dolores is quite the hula dancer), this spirited lesson in humility succeeds.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by C. B. Mordan. Headstrong and imaginative, ten-year-old Manda determines to help when she discovers her parents' plan to hide a slave family escaping via the Underground Railroad. Manda eagerly befriends young Hannah, and in doing so discovers a wise and lonely girl who yearns for freedom and literacy. Readers will be engaged by the story's courageous characters and suspenseful plot, despite a few overly sentimental moments.

Reviewer: Mary R. Holt

(2) PS Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. In his third book, lanky Farmer Brown shears his sheep and then takes the wool to be carded, spun, and dyed, all the while unaware of the unrest fomenting amongst his now-shivering sheep. When he finally realizes their plight, he sits down to knit the yarn into colorful sweaters. This book is distinguished by the energy and humor of the illustrations and the charm of the rhyming text. It's also informative on the process: raw wool to cardigans.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2000

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Curry. As a birthday gift, Mama asks her childish adult sons, cowboys Clement and Clyde, not to squabble. A mellow breeze inspires their verbal "besting" ("Why, one day it was so windy . . ."), which intensifies with the wind. Only when a gust makes Mama airborne do the men learn cooperation. Illustrations depicting the ranch in turmoil are as lively and hilarious as the brothers' hyperbole.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) YA Sold into slavery in ancient Ninevah, Soulai focuses his hopes and affections on Ti, a stallion he cares for in his job as a stable boy. Soulai's owner, Prince Habasle, sees signs of his own favor with the gods in Ti's markings--and then nearly ruins Ti in a disastrous lion hunt. Wilson's plot wanders dilatorily, but her characters are sympathetic and her setting well rendered.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Giselle Potter. This year, Sara's beloved Russian grandmother wants no presents for her birthday. So each of her friends, neighbors, and relatives decides to give her a no present--which Sara's mother says "can be anything . . . as long as it comes from deep inside you." Potter's flat, homey sketches incorporate just enough detail to aptly convey people and place in this endearing story of a child's relationship with a special grandparent.

Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1999

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Diane Palmisciano. The Spaldeen Super Pinkie is the object of Annie's obsession. Everywhere she goes, Annie is accompanied by the soft, fuzzy, pink rubber ball, despite the many who prey on it--a teacher, a neighbor's dog, the building superintendent. Tension mounts when the building super catches Annie's ball, but the conflict is resolved satisfyingly. Animated illustrations match the fun of the story.

Reviewer: Charlotte S. Huck

(3) YA In this futuristic novel, the military-backed Rulers keep citizens in a stage of subjugation. When orphaned Leora returns a captive birmba baby--a bear-ape creature reputed to be vicious--to its mother, she finds herself in danger and sets off in search of a group of rebels. The concept of fighting for freedom against oppression and the theme of the small and timid outsmarting the powerful are strongly developed.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(2) K-3 Illustrated by S. D. Schindler. When the folks in Cheshire, Massachusetts, home of Cheshire cheese, "the best you can serve at your table," learned that a Connecticut town was the favored cheddar supplier to President Thomas Jefferson, they decided to make him a 1,235-pound cheddar as a gift. This actual historical event--proof that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction--is documented in a reportorial, tongue-in-cheek style, extended in droll, elegantly limned illustrations.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1999

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mary Grandpre. Ishaq, who longs to be a scholar, travels the world searching for books to add to the collection of the House of Wisdom, a giant library and learning institution in Baghdad in the 800s. The story, based on the life of one of the greatest translators of Aristotle, describes the rich and scholarly culture of the Islamic Empire and is enhanced by vivid pastel illustrations. A pronunciation guide is included. Bib.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(2) PS Illustrated by Maggie Smith. The young heroine hauls her overnight bag up to Grandpa's porch, more than ready for her sleepover. Comical watercolors get this duo just right, and the rollicking, rhyming text suits the lively grandchild, who parades around with Grandpa--and stalls for time--unearthing letter by letter the contents of her bag. This charmer may keep young readers up at night stalling for bedtime with their own alphabetical treasures.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 1999